Free Claws and Effect by Jessica Sims

"Hey, Austin! Come here, sweetie!" She waved frantically, her entire body bouncing.
    A tall guy trotted off the sidelines, his dark hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. He was good looking, long body and lean face, and it was clear that he was related to Ellis and Everett - they had similar coloring and bone structure. He wiped his face on his shirt as he approached, and then grinned. "Ryder, my sweet little human nugget, what can I get for you?"
    "I just wanted to say hi," Ryder said in a flirty voice, twirling one of her pigtails. "Did you get a chance to meet Lily yet?" She tilted her head in my direction.
    His face lit up and he wiped a hand on his sweatpants, then extended it out to me. "Hey, sugar. I'm Austin. I've heard a lot about you. You holding up okay?"
    He seemed friendly enough. I gave him a polite smile and shook his hand. "I'm doing about as well as one can expect."
    "I was thinking about heading out there some time," Austin said. "You know, give Ellis a breather and all."
    "Sure."
    Ryder watched us, her eyes gleaming with fascination.
    "So, how are those kittens doing?" Austin shifted on his feet, moving a little closer to me. "Heard that Ellis had to rescue them from our barn cat."
    I smiled, thinking about my kittens. "They're the only things keeping me from going crazy from being shut in. They're the sweetest little things. Their eyes just opened and--"
    A body flew past, tackling Austin to the ground.
    Both Ryder and I stumbled backward a few steps, in shock. Sure enough, Austin started wrestling with the person who'd tackled him. I caught sight of two sleeves of tattoos, and my eyes widened. Ellis? Friendly, easygoing Ellis had just tackled Austin? Why?
    "You coming back to the game, douchebag?" Ellis asked, punching Austin in the gut.
    "I'm coming, I'm coming," Austin said, trying to get Ellis in a headlock. They wrestled on the ground for a moment longer and then both rolled away.
    Ellis flashed me a grin before he trotted back out on the field.
    "Mmmhmm," Ryder said. "Thought so. He's protecting you."
    I couldn't deny that Ryder was clearly on to something. "Protecting me from what, do you think?" Maybe it was just carryover from his self-appointed task as my one and only guardian.
    "Why, from interested males, of course." Ryder leaned in again. "I work with a lot of shifters, and they get super possessive when they think their woman is being hit on by someone else."
    I stared at the football field, watching Ellis move amongst the others. Was that true? Was he deliberately keeping other people away from me? I thought back to our kiss this morning, and his erection. This...was good, wasn't it? This was what I wanted. I needed Ellis on my side.
    But for some reason, I felt weird about it. Flustered. Was I just using him and he was thinking of me as 'his' woman? That meant I was a huge jerk, and Ellis had been nothing but nice to me. If I wasn't a captive, I'd have loved going out with a smart, funny, sexy guy like him with a soft spot for animals. As it was...I didn't know what to think.
    This was all part of my plan, right?
    But that kiss had kind of thrown me for a loop. If I was supposed to be using Ellis, why did I keep thinking about that kiss?
    Ryder continued to chatter away in my ear, setting herself up as my new buddy while the shifters played on the field. I saw Marie's father again and gave him a hug - he'd been part of Marie and I's breakout from Andre's basement. He was a good, sweet man, and he looked happy as heck that Marie was so healthy. I also met a tiny woman named Miko, who was sitting in the lap of a guy named Sam, and they were both watching Jeremiah (another Russell) play football. Ryder pointed out to me that Bathsheba, another human female, was on the field, and I noticed that everyone played very gently around her.
    Eventually, the rough and tumble shifters piled in for food, and I was squeezed onto the middle of one bench next to Ryder and Marie's dad. It was clear that